danger at 30,000 feet. the fbi wants to know who put needles on the food on four different delta flights. and who will it be and when? anticipation mounts as mitt romney mulls over his choice for vice president. saved from a terrifying plunge. take a look at this. >> oh, my goodness. >> a bus driver breaks a young girl's fall -- here it cops -- from a third story window. amazing. >> wait until you see the video of this as it's unfolding. it's really incredible. >> he says he's not a hero. good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> how do you define hero then? >> that guy right there. >> thanks for joining us. it is 5:00 a.m. here in the east. so let's get started. the midnight deadline for jeremy lin, will the nba sensation decide to stay in new york? we'll talk to "sports illustrated's" maggie gray about that. also we'll have depack chopra here about exploring your relationship with the universe. he's using the internet. >> very interesting, i was watching his kids' take on. this first, we'll start with our top story. the fbi and international authorities are working to find out how sewing needles wound up in four sandwiches on a delta airlines flight. the needles were found on four separate flights. all traveling from amsterdam to the united states. officials say one passenger was injured by a needle but declined medical treatment. federal agents have launched a criminal investigation now. cnn's sandra endo is live in washington with the very latest. this is just outrageous. what have authorities uncovered so far? >> a full blown investigation is under way. the fbi and local authorities in the netherlands are trying to figure out how the needles got into those turkey sandwiches in the first place. a spokesperson says the neelds were found in sandwiches on flights from amsterdam to minneapolis, seattle, and two flights to atlanta. two of the needles were found by passengers and one was discovered by an air marshall. when delta found out about the needles in the food, the airline says it notified all 18 flights from amsterdam to stop serving the sandwiches. here's what one passenger who actually bit into one of the contaminated sandwiches said whe he spoke to affiliate ktsp. >> i bit down on it so that i wasn't biting down on the sharp side, but the flat side. it could have been a bad injury orally, but had i taken a big swallow and swallowed that down, i'd have a needle inside. that would be very concerning to me. >> now, gape gourmet provided the sandwiches to delta. a spokesperson for that company says the sandwiches were prepared in amsterdam. she says this is a terribly upsetting situation. first and foremost is the safety of the traveling public. there's nothing more important to us than all the safety of the passengers and crews. now, the transportation security administration says it is closely monitoring the investigation into what happened as well as the security protocols being conducted by the air carrier and the airport authority. >> wow. so gate gourmet says it's fully cooperating with the fbi and local authorities. what we're wondering here, the company that makes these sandwiches says it also provides food to other airlines. is there a concern now? >> well, yeah, that is the big question. but so far, according to gate gourmet, they say that they have received no other complaints or comments about their food, so they are providing food to other airlines, but so far, everything has been okay. and again, they are fully cooperating with the investigation. >> all right, thank you very much. there is fresh new buzz and anticipation this morning. is mitt romney about to announce his pick for vice president? the top campaign advisor says it could happen as early as this week, which would be really early in the election cycle. or it may not happen this week. some analysts are calling all this a calculated move to shift discussion away from the recent attacks on his bain record and personal finances. peter hanby joins us now from washington, d.c. this would be very early in the cycle. but what are the arguments for doing it now or soon? >> well, a lot of people sort of agree on the arguments, if you get a runningmate, you get a fundraiser, you get an attack dog who can command media attention who can travel around the country. they can double up, basically. but the bigger issue for the romney campaign right now is this salvo of attacks from the obama campaign over his record at bain capital, over his tax returns, accusing him of outsourcing. president obama lit into him yesterday. take a listen to what he said yesterday. >> by eliminating taxes on corporation's foreign income, governor romney's plan would actually encourage companies to shift more of their operations to foreign tax haichbs, creating 800,000 jobs in those other countries. >> so the romney campaign is having a hard time sort of changing the subject from these attacks. if they get a running mate out now this week before the olym c olympics start, which will distract from the political campaign season, it would give them a chance to change the subject. because as we know, the minute you pick a vice president, the white heat of the national president comes down on that person. so it could happen. the romney campaign says no decision has been made, despite a report in "the new york times" saying a decision actually has been made, but the romney advisor says no, no, no, that's not the case, john. >> for historical perspective, mccain and obama four years ago, they waited literally just days before their conventions to make the picks. so now would be very, very early. mitt romney traveling to pennsylvania today, which we list as a swing state. but president obama won the state by ten points four years ago. what's mitt romney trying to do today with his keystone stay trip? >> right. well, republican officials at the republican national committee, the romney campaign, they insist that pennsylvania is in play this time, even though obama beat mccain there by a significant margin. romney's campaigning just outside pittsburgh in westmoreland county outside of pittsburgh. this is a county that went for mccain actually by a big margin, even though the state went for obama. it's those white working class voters. when i traveled with sarah palin, we went in this area. i saw some of the most rowdy fired up conservative crowds that we saw in the country. but both campaigns are spending money in pennsylvania. so even though we have a recent poll showing obama beating romney there by six points, the fact that both campaigns are spending money there, that they have staff on the ground in this state suggests that they both see it as competitive. >> that's key not just in pennsylvania, but a bunch of other important states. thanks very much. seven minutes past the hour. deadly wildfires and fears of food shortage. now worry that the nation's most severe drought in decades is spreading. more than half of the continental united states is now in some stage of drought. and most of the roeest of the country is close to it as well, according to a report from the national climatic data center. it is the largest area of land affected by drought since the 1950s. their bikes have been found, but still no sign of the girls. a desperate search resuming this morning in iowa. authorities have now started draining a nearby lake for any sign of 8-year-old elizabeth collins and ten-year-old lyric cook. the two are cousins. they were last seen by their grandmother before they went on a bicycle ride on friday. >> they sme a lot. they're pretty persistent in the things that they want. they're great. they're really great, you know i mean? >> yes, they are. >> we really look forward to what they had to offer in their future and the life that god had for them. >> nearly 1,000 volunteers helped look for clues over the weekend. police have called off the volunteer effort for now. we're going to have a live report coming from iowa on the search, and we will hear from the family next hour. >> it's like they just vanished. terrible. a deadly night on the east end of toronto. two young people killed. 19 others wounded when gunfire erupted at an outdoor barbecue. a 3-year-old child is among the injured. toronto's police chief calls it the most serious crime of its kind ever to hit the city. >> tonight's event is unprecedented. tonight's event is shocking to all of canada because of the number of people injured, the level of violence is something we have never experienced. >> plus say they have a person of interest in custody, but they're looking for more suspects. george zimmerman's attorney and the trayvon martin family are now reacting to a new stunning twist in this trial. this came out of nowhere. a female witness in the case only identified as witness number nine is accusing zimmerman of molesting her when they were both children. the accusations released yesterday in an audiotape from the state's attorney's office. >> it started when i was 6. he's about almost two years older than i am. he would reach under the plan kets and try to do things and i would try to push him off, but he was bigger and stronger and older. >> she also said zimmerman and his family flat-out said they didn't like black people unless they acted like white people. stunning allegations on these tapes. zimmerman's attorney mark o'mara has identified the woman as zimmerman's cousin, and last night he told piers morgan the allegations would not be admissible in court be will complicate things for the defense. >> these allegations, which george contends are untrue, now we need to spend our resources and time rebutting them, and actually, put in a difficult, if not delicate position of deciding how much we attack the source of this story or just leave it be and move on to what really counts. >> an attorney for the martin family issued a statement saying the woman's testimony should be included in the evidence. benjamin krump saying witness number nine would be a rebuttal witness very similar to that in the sandusky trial showing that george zimmerman has a history of violence and manipulation. zimmerman's mentality is very relevant in the trial, he says. also new overnight, word of yet another possible missed opportunity to stop child predator jerry sandusky apparently years ago. this time, it isn't penn state, but state authorities. cnn contributor sara ganim reports that in 1998, the pennsylvania child welfare never reported allegations to the second mile. that's a violation of state law. seven of the ten boys sandusky is conducted of abusing were abused after 1998. a new york city bus driver says he's not a hero, but we're going yes, he is a hero. his actions probably saved a little girl's life. >> no kidding. watch this. >> cell phone video taken by a neighbor. she was dancing on the air conditioner up there and then she fell off this third floor window. that's when 52-year-old steven st. bernard raced underneath the window. he managed to break the fall into the bushs below. she survived without a scratch on her. the "new york daily news" is reporting the little girl is autistic. police don't plan to charge the parents with anything, like negligence or something else. we think this bus driver is definitely a hero. by the way, a great outfielder, too. >> when i was watching this, i thought there's no way that child is okay because you don't see that part of it in the video. but perfectly fine without a scratch. >> not a scratch. an amazing piece of video. >> love sharing that with you this morning. it is 13 minutes past the hour. the question is will he stay or will he go? 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[ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. the countdown son this morning. a decision will happen before midnight that could mean the end of lynn sanity for the new york knicks. they are weighing whether to weigh an offer from the houston rockets. >> there is an obscure role. maggie gray is here with us. this is all the talk. we were talking about the vice presidential pick, right? no. so will they let him walk? >> it looks like right now -- let me put this caveat. who know what is the knicks could do, because they have made some questionable decisions in the past. if yu look at the evidence of what they've done in the last few days, which was signing raymond felton, a former point guard for the knicks, who's now back with the team. they signed the backup jason kidd, the long-term all-star, it looks like they're pretty set at the point guard position. apparently linsanity is not cheap. it will be very expensive for them in the third year if the knicks decide the fiscal responsibility is important to them, which sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. then that will ultimately determine what they're going to do about jeremy lin. >> how much beyond basketball is factoring into this decision? with linsanity last year, he was an international sensation. marketing, shirt sales. do the knicks have to be thinking about that too? >> i think jeremy lin is actually a global phenomenon at this point. i don't know if he needs new york like some other stars would need the large market. he is everywhere. and he will continue to be because his reach is just so far. as far as merchandise, jersey sales, things like that in the collective bargaining agreement of the nba, the players, the teams, they all share that. so it doesn't matter if you're kobe bryant or jeremy lin, everyone's going to get a cut of that. as far as ticket sales, jeremy lin moves the need. when they would play on the road, the arenas would be filled with linsanity signs. he definitely puts fans in the seats. but he could do that anywhere. >> it looks like right now that he's probably going to walk. but like i said, they have never had a problem paying the luxury tax before in their history. the only problem is by the time it gets to that $15 million that he would get in the third year, there's actually more of a punitive penalty for exceeding the salary cap for teams. so it's going to be even more money. that's never been a problem for the knicks before, but if they're going to really hit them with a big, big ticket, then i don't know. >> the knicks not known for making great decisions always. maggie thanks very much for being here. >> a little bit of a checkered past. >> we'll talk to you tomorrow, maybe. >> thanks for coming in this morning. we're minding your business this morning, checking in on the markets right now. u.s. stock futures trading higher on the opening bell, and european markets are up, too. >> investors worldwide are hoping for science of more stimulus during ben bernanke's testimony on capitol hill, that is today. just that speculation alone is pushing markets higher this morning. >> google's marisa mayer is heading over to the competition. this exploded twitter yesterday. melissa mayer taking over as ceo of yahoo!. she is one of most powerful women in search and she's one of the first two dozen employees ever at google. she's also become yahoo!'s fifth ceo in just five years. that search engine struggles to keep market share. they've been having a lot of problems in search and advertising. according to "the wall street journal," she's just the 20th female ceo in a fortune 500 company. that's a record number. and by the way, she and her husband are expecting their first child. >> oh, my goodness. that's a lot of pressure. >> big news in tech. and big news in business. >> and talk about an odd couple. coming up, president obama's unlikely meeting with a well-known talk show host. and we are not talking about oprah. ♪ why not try someplace different every morning? get two times the points on dining in restaurants with chase sapphire preferred. these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. 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